Halloween Party Games

Halloween party games will ensure that your guests are frightfully entertained.

Bobbing for apples is a classic Halloween party game. Fill a tub with water and floating apples, and let guests try to grab one without using their hands. Make sure children are well supervised around water to avoid accidents. A water-free alternative is to hang an apple from a string and see if guests can eat the dangling fruit without the use of their hands.

This low-key game lets everyone participate at his or her own pace. Fill a sealed jar with candy corn and ask party guests to figure out how many pieces of candy are in the jar. You could also set a pumpkin out and ask everyone to guess its weight. Provide slips of paper and pens for recording guesses. Announce the contest at the beginning of the party, and count the candy or weigh the pumpkin at the end of the night. Award prizes to the closest answers.

Seasonal bingo is a fun option for Halloween party games. If you would like to play with the traditional numbers, change the BINGO at the top of each card to GHOST, WITCH, or another five-letter word related to the holiday. To avoid confusion, take care that there are no repeating letters in the word. You can also play with Halloween-related words or pictures, allowing guests to cover squares when you call out "vampire", "candy", and similar words. BlackDog's Halloween Ghost Bingo page offers options with numbers and words and MES English provides picture-based cards. You can also make your own in any word processing program or using an online bingo card generator, such as the one at teAchnology.

Create bowling pins from empty two-liter bottles. Decorating the bottles as ghosts, witches, vampires, or other scary creatures can add to the fun, and is a great project for kids. Depending on the age and strength of your guests, you may want to weigh them down with a small amount of sand, water, or pebbles to make them more difficult to knock down. Use a small pumpkin as the bowling ball. Set up a bowling lane in a safe area where a wayward pumpkin won't damage household objects. Guests can play for fun throughout the night, or you can set up a competition to determine who can earn the highest score.

Some ideas for a Halloween-themed variation of Pin the Tail on the Donkey include Pin the Fangs on the Dracula, Pin the Hat on the Witch, and Pin the Smile on the Jack-o'-lantern. Post a large picture of the subject on the wall and create enough paper cutouts of the fangs or other thematic object so that each guest can have a try. Printable Halloween decorations will provide many options for fun images to use. You will also need a blindfold, either a length of fabric or a costume half mask with covered eyes. Despite the word "pin" in the title, it's typically safer to use tape on the objects being placed on the larger picture. Although this is traditionally a kids' game, even adult guests might enjoy joining in for the nostalgia.

Give each guest a piece of paper and see how many different words each person can create from a Halloween-related word or phrase, such as "Trick or treat." The winner is the person who can create the most words. Word searches and crossword puzzles using themed vocabulary are another option. Puzzlemaker from Discovery Education is a good source for creating custom word games. You can award a prize to the first person to correctly finish the task, or give a treat to everyone for participating.

These are just a few of the many games available to you and your guests. Many common indoor party games only need a small adjustment and they become Halloween-ready. Find out what games your children have played at other parties and school celebrations for additional inspiration. Of course, there's always room for new ideas. With a bit of creativity, you can be well on your way to creating the next sensation in Halloween party games.

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